An Open Letter to the President of India
Symbolic Representation vs. Constitutional Responsibility
Lessons from the Presidencies of APJ Abdul Kalam and Ram Nath Kovind
The Constitutional Safeguards for Tribal Communities
The Threat to the Fifth and Sixth Schedules
Development Projects and the Displacement of Indigenous Communities
The “Red Corridor” Narrative and Militarisation of Tribal Regions
Historical Resistance of Tribal Communities in Odisha and Central India
Corporate Expansion and the Struggle for Jal, Jangal, Jameen
The Constitutional Crisis: Articles, Rights, and Democratic Institutions
Representation Politics and the Risk of Political Symbolism
A Historical Responsibility Before President Droupadi Murmu
A Moment That Will Define Constitutional History
An open letter questioning whether President Droupadi Murmu will defend constitutional safeguards for Tribals, Dalits, minorities, and women, or follow the silent precedents set by previous Presidents.
The Great Betrayal: Will India’s First Tribal President Protect the Constitution or Subside into Silence?
An Open Letter to the Honourable Madam President,
The people of this country have placed you in the highest office of India to resolve the problems and uplift women, the oppressed, Dalits, Tribals, and all backward classes who have suffered neglect for thousands of years.
At the beginning of the new century, as part of the NDA's electoral manoeuvres, a Muslim President was appointed. Yet, during his tenure, the state-sponsored riots in Gujarat took place. After witnessing the horror in Gujarat personally, any President would have been enraged and taken the initiative to dismiss that government. However, APJ Abdul Kalam did nothing. The BJP deliberately conspired to field such a Muslim President to force all secular parties into a dilemma. While he is remembered today for his simplicity and programs with children, history also records—and will continue to record—that he did not utilise a single constitutional power.
Similarly, the NDA later deliberately played the Dalit card by seating Honourable Ram Nath Kovind in the Presidential chair. Yet, in his home state of Uttar Pradesh, several incidents of atrocities against Dalits occurred that shamed humanity. The perpetrators of those crimes crushed the victim's families and their lawyer to death. Journalists going to investigate the Bulgadhi (Hathras) incident were jailed under legal actions like alleged sedition. In the Saharanpur riots, the upper-caste society attacked Dalits simply because they wanted to celebrate the April 14th birth anniversary of the architect of the Constitution, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. The Bhim Army was born from that very movement. What did the Dalit President do? On the contrary, while holding the office, he handed over his ancestral family home to the RSS—an organisation that is deeply communal and rejects the Constitution of India.
And now, a Tribal woman from the state of Odisha, like yourself, has been installed in the office of the President. I welcomed this from the bottom of my heart. However, just as the current ruling party appointed a Muslim President to hide its politics of hate toward the Muslim community, and later seated Shri Ram Nath Kovind to mask its pro-upper-caste politics, what actual salvation did the country’s Dalits achieve? Likewise, during your tenure, the process of dismantling the Fifth and Sixth Schedules of the Constitution continues unabated.
Madam President, you personally published the Santali translation of the Indian Constitution. Does it include the provisions made by our Constitution-makers in the Fifth and Sixth Schedules to protect the natural resources and the very existence of Tribals? I humbly pray to you to save the Fifth and Sixth Schedules; that would be a monumental achievement.
In the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, under the project titled "Great Nicobar Integrated Development" (costing 81,000 Crore Rupees), work is underway to displace the remaining indigenous Shompen Tribal population. Similarly, the Tribal-dominated region, home to one-fourth of India’s population, is being maligned as the "Red Corridor." By labelling it a Naxalite zone, paramilitaries have been deployed in the name of security, similar to Kashmir. To date, more than three lakh Tribals have been killed in the name of fighting Naxals. The sole reason for this is the sacrifice of Tribals in the name of "development" to exploit minerals by destroying their thousands-of-years-old traditional resources. You know very well how many years Tribals in your home state of Odisha—in Niyamgiri, Gopalpur, and the entire Dandakaranya—have been protesting against destructive development projects. Despite Tribals making up only 8-9% of India's population, they constitute 75% of those displaced by development projects since independence. Their resistance is being crushed under the label of Naxalism.
There is a conspiracy to install a woman from the Tribal community in the highest office to obtain your signatures and abolish the special provisions given to Tribals by the Constitution-makers. I am writing this open letter specifically to alert you, Smt. Draupadi Murmu, of this plot.
During the terms of the previous Muslim and Dalit Presidents, the current government targeted those communities with communal and casteist hatred without restraint. Violating our Constitution, crimes were committed in Gujarat, Muzaffarnagar, Bhima Koregaon, Saharanpur, Balrampur, Bulgadhi, and Hathras. What did the governments of Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh do? They protected the criminals. Despite UP being his home state, Ram Nath Kovind took no action or initiative while holding the highest office. What benefit did the Dalits get? Instead, he blindly signed the anti-farmer bills, the NRC, and the abolition of Article 370 in Kashmir.
Farmers were forced to protest for a year, leading to the martyrdom of over a thousand farmers. I recall no comment from the President regarding the removal of Article 370. When the entire country protested against the dangerous NRC bill—a bill that digs at the very foundation of the country's partition—the President, instead of fulfilling his constitutional duty, merely echoed the ruling party. This destroyed the dignity of the highest office. Now, for the first time in history, seating a Tribal woman as President appears to be a third repetition of the ruling party’s political trickery.
As an activist who has worked for fifty years to find solutions for the problems of Dalits, Tribals, women, and minorities, I was inspired to write to you after seeing you speak on the issues of Bengal’s Tribals just two days ago.
The current government is hell-bent on destroying the provisions of the Indian Constitution because its parent organisation does not accept it. On November 26, 1949, when Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar dedicated the Constitution—prepared after three years of tireless effort—to the people, the RSS mouthpiece Organiser rejected both the Constitution and the National Flag. They wrote: "There is nothing of India's antiquity or Indianness in this Constitution. When we have the peerless Manusmriti written by Rishi Manu thousands of years ago, what is the need for this 'Bhim-Smriti'? This is just a patchwork of various foreign constitutions." They also criticised the National Flag, calling the three colours inauspicious and insisting there was no need for it when we have the saffron flag of ancient India. Consequently, the National Flag was not hoisted at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur for a long time after independence.
Efforts are now underway to abolish provisions for women, Dalits, Tribals, and minorities, as well as Articles 370, 371, and 372 created for Kashmir, Leh-Ladakh, and the North East. The government wants to hand over "Jal, Jangal, Jameen" (Water, Forest, Land) to the corporate world to exploit mineral resources.
The politics of deliberately placing a Tribal woman like you in the highest office is designed to tell the world that whatever is being done is with the consent of the Tribals. Just as APJ Abdul Kalam and Ram Nath Kovind did nothing to protect their communities, I humbly request you: if you provide justice to India's 15 crore Tribals, 25 crore minorities, 25 crore Dalits, and the female half of the population, history will honour you. Your parents named you Draupadi after the heroine of the Mahabharata. Even today, the questions Draupadi raised in the assembly are considered the beginning of the story of Indian women's liberation. It was because of Draupadi of the Mahabharata era that the great war occurred.
Therefore, without favouring any political party, if you work impartially and justly during your tenure, it will be a historic feat. With this hope, and wishing you a Happy International Women’s Day, I conclude my open letter.
— Dr Suresh Khairnar,
March 9, 2026, Nagpur.
